You wanted Perch pictures?

[FEAR NO FISH!]

This is from the last trip! http://www.ifish.net/uploads/431801341.jpg

[Born to Fish]

That's a really nice catch...can see that hawg partially buried in the bunch. Good eatin'! I've got to get up there sometime and try it.

[rebell]

Nice catch FNF. looks like you have some work to do. :cheers:

[Smj]

Mmmm, Tasty. That pic. brings fond memories. The wife and I become perch jerkers every year at Siltcoos in September for two weeks. 14" and a pound and a half has been our personal best from there. After the two weeks there we usually come home with 10 to 14 bags of fillets to eat 'till next years trip, not to mention the two or three meals of perch we eat while we are there.
We use worms within 6" of the bottom. When we get one of the little 4 or 5 inchers I fillet the back half off and turn it into 2 or 3 little minnow shaped strips per side and put that on the hook. That seems to catch the bigger ones and also gets you more than one or two perch per bait, they don't swallow the hook so much either. I don't think we could handle the cold out there in E. Washington this time of year so we'll stick to the Sept. thing at Siltcoos.

Smj

[Adam]

:grin:

[bassin]

I dropped by boat off Goldendale. The Dealer is in Yakima.
When I pick it back up later in the week. I just may have to keep heading east. Sure was chill over there. I guess I have been out of the snow belt to long. Nice stinger of dinners there FNF.
Best of luck to you. And keep up those great reports.

[Sturgeonbait]

Cool Catch

[GutshotApe]

smj - how deep is the water where you fish at Siltcoos? What type of locations are the best for Sept. perch? That's a big lake - are the perch concentrated anywhere or scattered unliformly?

[6wapiti6]

Try this for something differt...we used to call it poor man's shrimp. Fillet the perch, and then drop the fillets in boiling water. Have a bowl of ice water right beside the stove. When the fillets float, immediatly put them in the ice bath. They will curl and look just like a peeled shrimp. I like them cold dipped in cocktail sauce. Just a thought if you ever wanted to try something different? Good eats!

[Smj]

6Wapiti6, We do that but eat them hot, poor mans lobster dipped in butter! We'll try the poor mans shrimp now too.

GSA, Every year it is different. The wife and I the last couple of years have become the perch experts on Siltcoos for the two weeks that we've been there. Last year, '01, we were so hot that the owners of Westlake resort(Warren & Ulla Stafford) would send people to cabin 6 for infomation of where to fish. We usualy start near weed edges, the weeds seem to stop at about 12'-13'. If that doesn't work we find sparse weeds in 10'-12'. Some times the perch are out in the flat mud bottom in 16'-22'. I belive the deepest water on the whole lake is 23'. This last Sept. was tough compared to past years it seemd, we did best in the sparse weeds locations.
They had a perch derby out of Nightengales(sp) camp this year in August that the winning bucket was 23 Lbs., so it seems Sept. isn't the only month for good perchin' and it will fish good into Oct. also.
If you decide to go there get info from Westlake Resort, or if you go there after the wife and I do I'd be glad to clue you in. We make our resevations for the following year when we check out.

Smj

[GutshotApe]

Thanks smj, I used to live on the ridge between Siltcoos and Woahink, had a dock on Siltcoos for the boat. But in those days the boat was a ski boat and the only reason we ever pulled into Nightengales or Darlings was to fill up the cooler with more beer! :dance:

I enjoy crappie fishing (and eatin') and want to try a mess of perch. I hear they're good. And Siltcoos is just over the hill from here. :cool:

[Smj]

GSA, Ya' know, perch are a whole lot easier to clean than crappie.
I would guess your boat dock was either in Harmony Bay or on Fiddle Creek arm?
I heard a few years ago that Goat Island was for sale. The price came down from 1 million to $750,000.00, If I won the lottery I'd buy that island in a heart beat, heck, if I lived where you live I'd be down there ten times a year, or more. That island has a nice house and supposedly a guest house, a sheltered two boat garage with dock, electricity, well and phone!
We really fell in love with that place from the first time we went there, sniff.

I really hate having to live in the big ***ty, but, that's where the money is at this point in our lives.

Smj

[GutshotApe]

Smj - Well, I'm pretty good at filleting crappies. :smile:

I lived on the hill 1/8 mile west of the northern arm of Siltcoos Lake in the late '70s and our neighborhood assn. had a boat launch and dock on the NW side of Keichle Arm just north of the Boy Scout camp.

I hunted ducks on Siltcoos many times and know the lake well but have never fished it. Maybe next year.

[Smj]

DUH, Woahink, not Tachenich (sp?). Yes, I know right where you mean. The wife likes to use the out house at the scout camp when we're there, being that it's the off season for the camp.
I think I've fished every inch of shoreline on that lake trying to figure out a bass pattern. Thank goodness the perch are there to keep me going when I can't catch the elusive largemouth that live in that lake.

We met some duck hunters there three or so years ago in October that were "jump shooting?" ducks from a drift boat, scared the crap out of us because they were just over a hill from us up in booth arm, might have been you. We knew we were safe, it just was a suprise to hear shotgun blasts that close when we weren't expecting it. Looked like a real fun way to hunt, if I were a hunter.

Smj

[GutshotApe]

Smj - I haven't hunted there in the last 4 or 5 years and usually in Nov.- December over decoys out of a 11' sneakbox. One of my usual places is called Butterfly Island although it normally isn't actually an island. Its a sandy reef that rises within about 2' of the surface, covers maybe 5 acres, and has tall tules that you can run a boat thru. Its SE of the BoyScout camp on the north side of the lake. Always thought graemlins/idea.gif it looked like a good spot for panfish.

Yeah, it would be fun to live on Goat Island. I think there are 2 islands with one house apiece on Siltcoos. Either one would do. :wink: